Judia Jackson Harris (1870-1960) was a trailblazing educator and social reformer, whose vision for Black advancement in the Jim Crow South was rooted in the building of strong, economically self-reliant and well-educated communities. Though Jackson Harris’s parents lived most of their lives enslaved and were deprived of formal education, Jackson Harris and her siblings were all educated and she and two of her sisters became educators–and the traditions of teaching and learning were passed down to the next generations. Jackson Harris’s sister, Mary Jackson McCrorey, achieved prominence as an educator and as an officer of the National Council of Negro Women.

Jackson Harris is most commonly remembered for her contributions as an educator, but her work in cooperative land ownership and community building situate her as a powerful social welfare activist as well. Jane McPherson has written several articles on Jackson Harris and her family and given multiple invited lectures; she is at work on a book-length project based on Jackson Harris’s unpublished writings.

A Call to Remember: Three Generations of Jackson and Brydie Educators on North Finley Street, written by Dr. Jane McPherson